e is to deal
with the unfortunate rather than with the exceptional cases of humanity;
for all these are children whom the Father of the race, in his
providence, has confided to earthly parents to be educated for a
temporal and an immortal existence. That these parents, through crime,
ignorance, indolence, carelessness, or misfortune, have failed in their
work, is no certain evidence that we are to fail in ours. May we not
hope to see in this school the kindness, consideration, affection, and
forethought, of the parent, without the delusion which sometimes causes
the father or mother to treat the vices of the child as virtues, to be
encouraged? And may we not expect from the superintendent, to whom,
practically, the discipline of the school is confided, one
characteristic of good government, not always, it is feared, found in
punitive and reformatory institutions? I speak of the attributes of
equality, uniformity, and certainty, in the administration of the law.
To be sure, a school, a prison, or a state, will suffer when its code is
lax; and it will also suffer when its system is oppressive or
sanguinary; but these peculiarities in themselves do not so often, in
any community, produce dissatisfaction, disorder, and violence, as an
unequal, partial, and uncertain administration of the laws. If at times
the laws are administered strictly according to the letter, and if at
other times they are reluctantly enforced or altogether disregarded; if
it can never be known beforehand whether a violation is to be followed
by the prescribed penalty--especially if this uncertainty becomes
systematic, and a portion are favored, while the remainder are required
to answer strictly for all their delinquencies; and if, above all, these
favored ones are recognized as sentinels, or spies, or informers in the
service of the officers,--then not only will the spirit of
insubordination manifest itself, but that spirit may ripen into
alienations, feuds, and personal enmities, dangerous to the prosperity
of the institution. Here the scales of justice should be evenly
balanced, and the boy should learn, from his own daily experience, to
measure equal and exact justice unto others. I do not speak of systems
of government: they are essential, no doubt; but they are not to be
regarded as of the first importance in institutions for punishment or
reformation. Establish as wise a system as you can; but never trust to
that alone. Administer the system tha